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Next Game: Rushall At Home In The League On Saturday 30th November At 3.00pm

Friday, March 29, 2024

Devastated Banbury lament huge financial blow and blame river for postponement

Banbury United have said groundstaff were looking at the pitch for three hours before the decision was made to postpone this afternoon's game.

It is Banbury's eighth postponement this season and they are already playing twice a week until the end of the season.

The match was postponed at 10am due to water still lying on the pitch, that's despite Banbury saying their grounds team was "monitoring the pitch since 7am to see if the water would be likely to subside".

But with patches of water still standing, "the independent pitch inspection resulted in the match being called off" and the club has also sad it'll be a huge financial blow.

In a post on their website, Banbury blamed high river and brook levels around the pitch meaning there was nowhere for the water to drain away.

"As we know from many times before (this is our eighth match postponement this season), this is a river problem, not a pitch problem," they said.

"This is a huge disappointment to both Banbury and Hereford supporters who were looking forward to this Good Friday match. This is another huge financial hit to our club and everyone involved is devastated.

"We continue to pursue investigations into the impact to our Club from surrounding waterways, with the Environmental Agency (sic) and with the assistance of our MP who is escalating our plight with her ministerial colleagues."

The Puritans said they knew many Hereford fans had already made the trip to Banbury today, with social media posts showing a packed station platform at Hereford this morning.

The club said they share the "extreme disappointment".

"Our volunteers in the grounds, marketing and ticketing teams have ploughed many hours behind-the-scenes in the last fortnight, to make it possible to host you," they added.

It is not yet clear how Hereford fans will get refunds or when the game is likely to be played.